Thanks for pointing that out- hadn't seen that comment! They are in fact Gonocephalus bellii. Reptile common names are a right mess sometimes.
Secret Life of the Zoo has been dominated for a BAFTA TV award! Its in the 'Features' category (whatever that is) along with Antiques Roadshow, Cruising with Jane MacDonald, and No More Boys & Girls: Can Our Kids Go Gender Free? Very good luck to everyone at the zoo and who makes the programme, I would love it to win but just being nominated is great!
It is - though I'm not sure what to make of the fact that I've hardly heard of most of the nominees, and watch even less! Probably wishful thinking but I'd love a few of the keepers to go the awards to collect the trophy just in case they win... the idea of Niall sat in a room full of suits does slightly amuse me! Somehow I can't see many of them would be too bothered about attending though!
I guess it would be more probable that the producers would go to the ceremony. I would say they stand as good a chance as any of winning the award.
Thanks for posting this - brilliant news! Although a few of the clips in that trailer were definitely shown already, but good to see a few new babies featuring. Isn't this meant to be a continuation of series 4 though?
An article about the new series of Secret Life of the Zoo, mentioning some of the stories that will feature - including orangutans, chameleons, meerkats, aardvarks and vampire crabs. The Secret Life of Chester Zoo TV show returns later this month Of note it mentions two pregnant orangs, Emma and Subis, and says that Subis may need a C section. Does anyone know what happened there? There's only one new baby isn't there?
As far as I’m aware yes only Emma had a baby last year, no other birth has been reported by the zoo or has been seen by any zoochatters, which If there was a a successful second birth last year I would be surprised that no one has seen considering how often people on this website are at Chester.
Thanks for this post. Reading the article I wonder if it could possibly have been a phantom pregnancy? I don't think I can cope with something traumatic in the first episode back! Does anyone know if Subis is definitely OK?
There was some confusion over the date of birth of Emma's baby on here in December - see the last Chester thread for 2017. People on Facebook said she'd been born on 1 December but Chester then announced she'd been born overnight on 17/18 December - Rare Sumatran orangutan born at the zoo | Zoo news | Chester Zoo I've seen recent photos of Subis with Siska and Tuti on Facebook.
The plot thickens! Next week's Radio Times says about the new series: 'However, it's in the orangutan enclosure that something extraordinary is going on. Sisters Emma and Subis are both pregnant by the same male. That's unusual, but it's what happens during the night that stuns the staff. "I'll never rule anything out ever again," keeper Debi says.' and 'Orangutan sisters Emma and Subis are due to give birth at the same time, but the team gets a shock when Subis goes into labour.' Both Frances Drake and HGibbons reported seeing a baby on 6th and 14th December and 10th and 16th December respectively - before the zoo said that Emma's baby was born. I hope all will be revealed on April 18th!
That makes it sound like they’ve been keeping things under wraps especially for the television show so as not to spoil the element of surprise.
I can’t think of any other realistic reason why they wouldn’t have spoken about the situation, since it now seems obvious that they plan to cover it as part of the show and so it’s going to be out there in the public domain imminently anyway. I’m not trying to insinuate that it would be the zoo’s decision to manage it in that way either, as television companies can be extremely strange with regards to their contracts and what they can expect you to keep quiet about. For example, as a guest performer on Strictly Come Dancing, you have to sign a contract with the BBC that states you can’t even disclose the music that you are going to be dancing to beforehand (I guess so as not to spoil the surprise?!). Anyhow, it could well be for a completely different reason, but nothing else seems to be so obvious considering the circumstances.
Indeed! It's certainly not unusual for Emma and Subis with their synchronised breeding histories, nor for Puluh as the only breeding male.
TV Times have actually printed some more info on the orang situation, and everything makes a lot more sense now... I'm not sure whether or not to post this as some people may consider it a 'spoiler' for the TV show! The same magazine also has a nice double-page spread on the new series including an interview with Giraffe Team Manager Sarah which is a good read.